


Ugly Little Scarf

by shieldings



Category: Teen Titans (Comics), Teen Titans - All Media Types
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Presents, F/F, Fluff, Non-Speaking Cameos, Teen Only Because of Swears
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-30
Updated: 2019-12-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 15:35:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22039426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shieldings/pseuds/shieldings
Summary: The Titans prepare for their annual Christmas party, and Tara works on a gift.  Gar orchestrates the perfect prank and becomes the Kiss Lord.
Relationships: Raven/Tara Markov
Comments: 8
Kudos: 43





	Ugly Little Scarf

**Author's Note:**

> Another hastily-written oneshot! I started this on Christmas Eve, and it would have been ready on Christmas day, but I got stuck. Soon, I'll be studying my online paralegal course again, so I won't be able to write much. I'll try to get one more drabble or something up before then!

**DECEMBER 22**

“But honestly, what do you get for the little green bastard who has everything?” Tara asks, trying on a mood ring from the little bin on the shelf. “Passionate,” says the guide card.

“He collects the little plastic dinosaurs,” Raven says, not looking away from the dollar romance shelf. Tara counts three cowboys on the covers. “He doesn’t have the stegosaurus yet.”

“Which one’s the stegosaurus?”

“Here,” Raven says, shuffling over to her. Her big winter coat rustles. “It’s the one with the plates on its back, see?” She pushes it into Tara’s palm. “Tell him it was your idea.”

“That means I’ve got Gar too now,” Tara says, tucking it away in her shopping basket. “I’ve also got Dick, Donna, Vic… That leaves Kory. Do I have to get presents for all the guests coming to the party?”  
  


Raven shakes her head. “Dick is in charge of party favors. Kory likes the little succulents they sell at the drugstore. We can stop by on the way home.”

“Are you sure they don’t mind that all their presents are under five dollars?” Tara asks. “Dick’s dad is rich, right? He might mind.”

“I got everyone cheap gifts, too,” Raven says. She turns back to the books. Tara spies two pirates and a Viking with exposed nipples.

“If I had money, I wouldn’t spend any of it on you guys,” Tara says. “I’d move to France.”

“Can you even speak any French?”

“Oui oui, poisson, tomate.”

\--

“Candles? Fucking candles?” Tara half-yells.

“It was just a suggestion,” Dick says a little nervously. “She likes candles.”

“ _You_ get her a candle!” Tara says. “I have to get her something good!”

  
“You’re getting worked up about this,” Dick says. “How about you just make her something?”

“Make… her something,” Tara says. It’s not that bad a suggestion, considering she topped off her Christmas fund by spending seven (seven!) whole dollars on a tiny cactus at the CVS. “I’ll knit something,” she says decisively.

“Can you knit?”

“…Yes.”

“Gar has some yarn from when he tried to learn to crochet. Make her something quick like a scarf.”

“A scarf,” Tara says. “That’s a shitty present.”

“Want any more suggestions?”  
  


“No. Shut up. Where’s the yarn?”

\--

Tara spends the next few days furiously knitting. Partially knitting. Mostly looking at instructional pictures in a craft book. Her yarn has a gradient, so she doesn’t have to worry about using more than one type. Who cares if it’s rainbow-colored? It’s not like Raven’s going to be wearing it outside her coat anyway. 

Raven wouldn’t wear a rainbow. Damn it, Raven wouldn’t wear a rainbow.

Tara screams quietly to assuage her fears.

**DECEMBER 23**

“No, no, I should wear the hat and sit on his lap,” Gar says. He gestures emphatically at the Santa hat on his head. “So it would be Santa sitting on someone’s lap, see?”

“I’m not doing that,” Vic says. He’s wearing three coats layered on top of each other, and Tara thinks he looks like a shiny hobo. Maybe having all that metal in his body makes him get cold more easily.

“I think it would be delightful,” Kory says. “I am still not sure what a Santa is, but Gar would be an excellent one.”

“Do I have to show you the movie again?” Gar asks, sounding exasperated.

“Maybe when we get home,” Donna says, even though the look in her eyes says “not again.”

\--

“So, who’s on the list for the party?” Donna asks. Dick pulls a notebook out of his pocket. Tara watches bemusedly from the barstools by the counter island, nursing a cup of eggnog.

“I have all of us here, Wally, Roy, Garth. Umm, let’s see… Joey…” He turns to the next page. “Lilith. I’m pretty sure she’s pagan, but--”

  
“I am too, remember? It doesn’t matter. Is that it?”  
  


“Kind of a sausage fest,” Tara interrupts.

“Most of our friends are guys,” Dick shrugs. “I think that’s it. I would have invited more people, but I couldn’t invite anyone we knew as civilians, and I didn’t want to invite anyone from too far out of town. I’m pretty sure Roy is bringing Lian, though.”

“Do we have to babyproof the ops?” Donna asks, a look of panic washing over her.

“I’ll make sure someone’s always following her,” Dick says. “Gar and Kory both like babies.”

“Remember to fill the bathtub with seawater for Garth to keep him wet.”

“Wait, _what_?” Tara asks, nearly choking on her eggnog. “Why do you need to keep him wet? Is he a big tongue?”

  
Dick snorts, but Donna just sighs. “Of course, you haven’t met him yet. He’s Atlantean.”  
  


“Oh,” Tara says stupidly. It’s only natural that the people the Titans are inviting to their party are going to be all shades of strange. “Anything else special going on, or is it gonna be normal?” Tara asks.

“Dick has it all worked out, right?” Donna asks. Dick nods. “We’ll be decorating the Tower, decorating cookies, decorating Roy-- that was something we came up with when we were kids.”

“Okay, so decorating,” Tara says. That’s normal. She can roll with that.

“Oh, right,” Dick says. “We’ll also be hanging up a mistletoe.”

For some reason, this makes Tara very nervous.

\--

Tara continues furiously knitting. The number of dropped stitches and holes has become uncountable; the tangles and snags in the yarn number in the high tens at least. All the same, she knits as though her life depends on it. This is, after all, her somber Christmas duty.

\--

“Kory, maybe you could cut them?” Vic says, clearly trying to be gentle.

“I would like to help with the mixing…”

“Oh no,” Raven says tonelessly. “This dough is so sticky that I can’t cut the shapes out properly. If only someone would help me.”

“I know what you are doing,” Kory says, rolling her eyes. She still moves next to Raven.

“Tara, would you get the vanilla extract?” Vic asks. “It’s in the cupboard right next to you.”

  
Tara slides off the counter and turns around. When she opens the cupboard, a pillow falls on her face. “What the hell?” she asks.

“Classic,” Vic says. “Gar must have set it up.”

“That was so stupid!” Tara says, still rifling through the cupboard.

“What, you don’t know about the classic ‘pillow in the cabinet’ prank?” Vic asks. “Thank you,” he says when Tara hands him the vanilla extract. “It always puts me in a good mood.”

“Are these for the party?” Tara asks.

“Mostly for us,” Vic says. Raven nods silently. “I mean, some of them are for the party, I guess.”

“If you’re not planning on showing them to anyone, why are you even bothering cutting them into shapes?” Tara asks. “It’s not like anyone’s gonna be judging them.”

“We’re all aesthetically-driven,” Raven says.

**DECEMBER 24**

Tara ducks between two chatting redheads. She knows them, she’s met them. Why are they just “two redheads” then, instead of Wally and Roy? She’s stressed. She’s very stressed.

“Okay, it’s time to decorate Roy!” Dick announces into a karaoke microphone. The feedback is so loud it makes Tara’s ears ring. Roy grins sheepishly and spreads his arms out. Everyone starts rushing to the tree to undecorate it. Wally, naturally, gets there first and unwinds a sparkly silver garland, which he wraps around Roy like a feather boa.

Tara manages to get a few baubles, but since Roy doesn’t have any branches to hang them on, she just hangs them on the garland. It’s a big mess, since everyone is trying to get at him at once, but soon he’s thoroughly decorated.

\--

“I brought gifts for the foreigners,” Dick says.

  
“We’re not foreigners just because we don’t live in your house,” Roy says. He’s still heavily decorated. He looks beautiful.

“Anyway, I always welcome the poor foreigner to my doorstep,” Dick says, handing him a small box. He goes from person to person, giving out boxes to each guest.

Tara stands in the corner sucking a candy cane into a shiv. Raven stands next to her. Tara, very coolly, takes a step sideways to be marginally closer to her.

“Shitty party, right?” Tara asks. “I know you don’t like big crowds.”

“It’s not as bad when I know everyone,” Raven says.

“Mistletoe stick!” Gar announces. He waves around what looks like a small fishing pole with a ball of plastic mistletoe hanging from it. “I’m the kiss lord!”

“This is a shitty party,” Tara repeats.

“Dick, mistletoe,” Gar says. Dick shrugs and bends down to kiss Gar on the cheek. “Kory, mistletoe.” Kory, using the arm that’s not holding Lian, grabs his hand and kisses the back of it like he’s a princess. Gar’s face turns a darker shade of green, but he bravely presses onward. “Raven, mistletoe.”

“No,” Raven says flatly.

“Fair. Wally! Mistletoe.”

  
Gar kisses his way through the entire room, with varying degrees of enthusiasm from his targets (although only gets two more rejections). Then he turns against the crowd.

“Now you guys have to kiss,” Gar says, wiggling the mistletoe over between a flat-faced Vic and a horrified Joey.

“We gave him too much power when we told him he was allowed to do this,” Donna says. “We should have just taken it away when he took it out.”

“I don’t know, look how much fun he’s having,” Dick responds.

“Raven! It’s your turn again!” Gar starts waving his magic wand over Raven’s head, and then Tara’s. “Pucker up!”

Tara shouldn’t have stood next to her. She was asking for trouble. She’d gone, like an idiot, and stood next to Raven for some unfathomable reason.

“You’re acting like an asshole,” Tara says, crossing her arms. Gar lowers his stick, taken aback.

“Too much?” he asks.

“Maybe a little too much,” Dick says, stepping in to soften the blow. Gar smiles nervously at him.

“Okay, back to the party,” he says.

Despite any attempts at recovery, the atmosphere stays awkward until it’s time to open presents. Everyone cheers up, even though Dick gave everybody socks with their faces printed on them. After that, things go pretty smoothly until it’s time for everyone to go home.

\--

Tara and Raven are next to each other again, re-placing the ornaments that had been taken off the tree to hang on Roy. Everybody else has gone to their rooms to settle in for the night, saving cleaning for the next morning. 

“That was embarrassing earlier,” Tara says. “Gar got kinda power-drunk there, didn’t he?”

“He stopped as soon as he was told to,” Raven responds. “He’s obnoxious, not bad.”

“I mean, I guess,” Tara says. “What would you have done if I hadn’t called him an asshole?”

“I wouldn’t have kissed you in front of everybody.”

“That’s a relief. Can you imagine if--”

“I wouldn’t have kissed you in front of everybody,” Raven repeats.

“Yeah, you said… Wait. Oh.” Tara turns her head to meet Raven’s eyes. Despite her calm voice, her face is pink and her hands are fidgeting aimlessly with a plastic snowman instead of hanging it up.

They stare at each other, uncertain what to do next. Tara reaches out to touch Raven’s hand, but chickens out and grabs the snowman ornament instead. Raven doesn’t let go.

“Uh,” Tara says.

“Uh,” Raven says.

“This is stupid and you suck,” Tara says, letting go of the ornament. She spins around and hurries out of the room and down the hall.

**DECEMBER 25**

“It is adorable and I love it,” Kory says, clutching the potted cactus to her chest.

“How did you know I would want one of these?” Gar asks. “Wait, she didn’t tell you, did she?”

Vic silently holds up a mug that says “My Other Mug is a Car.”

Tara leaves the room before Raven can open her present, hastily announcing that she has to use the bathroom. She ducks in quickly to check if Dick likes the ‘World’s Best Mom’ apron she found in the clearance bin. He rarely cooks, and when he does he’s not much better than Kory, but she hopes he’ll enjoy the sentiment.

“Tara,” Raven says, lifting the mangled-looking scarf.

“Oh, looks like I have to pee again,” Tara says.

\--

Tara skulks in the shadows all day. 

  
Actually, that’s an exaggeration. Tara only skulks in the shadows when she spots Raven. She’s proudly showing Donna the pack of bowknot hair elastics she got from Gar when a sleepy-looking Raven walks lopsidedly to the kettle, dragging the quilt wrapped around her shoulders behind her. Tara stops mid-sentence and ducks behind the counter island.

Raven follows her.

“You’re not allowed to come down here!” Tara says, covering her face with her hand as if that will somehow disguise her presence. Donna’s legs walk out of the kitchen.

“You’ve been avoiding me,” Raven says. “Why won’t you talk to me?”

“Just go away!” Tara says.

“You never opened my present!” Raven says. She holds out a small package insistently. “I’ve been carrying this all day!”

“Oh.” Tara takes it.

“You, um, don’t have to open it,” Raven corrects herself. “Or you can open it by yourself. In your room.”

“No, it’s fine, I’ll open it now,” Tara says. She carefully removes the strip of tape holding the package closed, only pulling up a little of the gaudily striped paper with it. Inside is a clumsily-made, bright yellow scarf.

“I know how to knit,” Raven says. “The yarn was from Gar--”

“I love it,” Tara says. “It’s wonderful.”

“But it’s the same thing you made me…”

“Do you think I care, stupid?” Tara asks. “It’s an ugly little scarf. I love it,” she repeats.

Raven smiles. “I love yours, too.” She pulls down the blanket around her shoulders and reveals that she’s wearing it around her neck.

“About what you said earlier,” Tara says. Raven looks at her blankly. “About, um, ‘in front of everybody.’” Realization apparently dawns on her, and her expression becomes nervous.

“I was tired,” Raven says. “People say strange things when they’re tired.”

“I wouldn’t kiss you in front of everybody, either,” Tara says.

“Good,” Raven says. If Tara didn’t know better, she’d say she looked disappointed.

“Lemme check.” Tara stands up and peers over the counter and around the room. Donna has long-since left. “I don’t see anyone.”

“Well--” Raven starts. “If--” She stops. “Even--"

Tara leans in quickly enough that she won’t be able to change her mind and presses her lips to Raven’s. Raven tilts her head slightly so their noses don’t squish up against each other and closes her eyes. Tara closes her eyes, too. They linger on this for a long moment before pulling apart.

“And I’d do it again,” Tara says.

Raven averts her eyes and smiles. “I wouldn’t stop you,” she says.

\--

That evening, they all go out to look at the lights set up in the park.

Raven and Tara are both wearing scarves outside their coats.


End file.
